Egypt Parliamentary Elections
-
- Early in the morning, Basem Fathy of Egyptian Democratic Academy checks his cell phone for text messages at the NED funded headquarters for u-shahid.org , a website that helps aggrigate and visualize reports of fraud and abuse across the Egypt.
-
- Early election morning a man wheels out the days newspapers to be sold in Midan Tahrir in central Cairo.
-
- As the sun rises on election morning a coffee shop in Midan Tahrir stands slightly more empty than normal. Many businesses were closed because of the election and the streets were less congested than normal.
-
- Dr. Mohamed Beltagi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in the northern Cairo suburb of Shubra Alkheima waits for reports of violence or fraud in his office and gives interviews to reporters on the morning of the election.
-
- A square in Shubra Alkheima is filled with election banners on the morning of the Egyptian parliamentary elections.
-
- The offices of Dr. Mohamed Beltagi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate on the morning of the election.
-
- One of the polling stations in the northern Cairo neighborhood of Shubra AlKheima. The Muslim Brotherhood reported that some of the polling stations were closed forcing voters to travel further and wait in longer lines before voting.
-
- Supporters of the NDP candidates in Garden City were riled to chanting when the opposition candidate Gamila Ismael arrived to check on the polling station procedures. She reported that her number was misprinted on the ballots and that her supporters were told to sign beside their vote instead of marking the box, which would invalidate their vote.
-
- A muslim brotherhood support hands out fliers for Gamal Shahata in the northern Cairo suburb of Shubra.
-
- Children chant and waive signs for an independent candidate in the northern Cairo suburb of Shubra.
-
- Voters show the ink stains on their fingers after voting in the northern Cairo suburb of Shubra.
-
- Reflections of candidates signs, children and supporters beside a polling station in the central Cairo district of Garden City.
-
- The inside of a polling station in central Cairo.
-
- The independent candidate Gamila Ismael shakes hands beside a polling station in central Cairo.
-
- A poster of independent Gamila Ismael has been ripped apart outside of a polling station in central Cairo.
The Egyptian parliamentary election started Sunday morning as voters went to polls nationwide to select a new representatives for the People’s Assembly. The ruling NDP party is expected to sweep the results with many of the opposition parties reporting abuse and fraud throughout the country. Poling stations in Shubra Al-Kheima and Garden City were mostly peaceful with police and security forces in and around the polling centers.
I learned a lot yesterday. I missed a grand finale photo of Beltegi and Noor being attacked in the streets because I was busy uploading images to my agency. It was a stupid decision on my part. I feel like almost all the photos I’ve seen, especially mine, don’t do justice to the mastery of subtle, and not to subtle irregularities and fraud that were carried out yesterday. It’s a time that writing can tell the story better and the photos might even be a detriment to understanding the truth because they give the appearance of normalcy.
